[chriss85]

I need to buy a machine for CFD calculations with OpenFOAM. I'm planning for cell counts of up to 5M or so. However, my solver takes some more time than the included ones.

I have a budget of about 20.000 €. I was currently looking at quad-socket systems with the XEON E7...v3 processors. Are there better options available right now in this price range?

I was currently looking at this system: http://www.deltacomputer.com/d44x-m4-bh-ddr4.html
For my budget I could get the quad Intel Xeon E7-4850 v3. Any better options I should know about?

For example, is it possible to use such a board with less but better processors and maybe add more processors to it later on?

What kind of performance increase can I expect compared to a single i7-4770 ?

Is it worth looking for small cluster solutions such as http://www.totalsimulation.co.uk/wp/...er-tsx9-mc-48/ ?

[wyldckat]

Greetings Chris,

Quad-socket towers have an added price tag, because of how much computational power-per-volume is packed into it, as well as reduced electrical power consumption.

You might get a better computational power/money if you switch to 3 or 6 towers with 1 or 2 sockets and using an InfiniBand interconnect.
I know I wrote about this sometime ago... found it: http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/har...tml#post526862 - post #7

In additional, I advise you to study a bit this thread: http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/har...quad-xeon.html

Best regards,
Bruno

[chriss85]

On the other hand, won't the cluster-like solutions require additional hardware for a "controller"-like PC plus Infiniband cards and switch?

Is there a tutorial smoewhere on how to set up a Linux system on a cluster for running OpenFOAM on it?

[wyldckat]

Originally Posted by chriss85

On the other hand, won't the cluster-like solutions require additional hardware for a "controller"-like PC plus Infiniband cards and switch?

Yes, but sometimes it will get you the same or more computational power, for the same money. The downside might be the electrical power consumption, which can be substantially higher.

I know that there are already a few threads here on the Hardware forum that discuss this, but I can't remember any specific threads, beyond the two I've already mentioned.

Originally Posted by chriss85

Is there a tutorial smoewhere on how to set up a Linux system on a cluster for running OpenFOAM on it?

1. Google:
   

   DIY linux cluster

   • Or buy one pre-built? The one you mentioned from Total Simulation was essentially a compact cluster.
   • It really depends if you want to save time or money
2. As for OpenFOAM, here is a blog post of mine: Notes about running OpenFOAM in parallel

[Totalsim]

Hi Chris,

We'd be happy to talk you through the options and our experience on OpenFOAM hardware if you are still looking?

We've got a fair amount of experience on whats needed (and not needed) for OpenFOAM. With small models your requirements are probably quite different to many.

Contact details on our site http://www.totalsimulation.co.uk/wp/...re-bytotalsim/ or email info@totalsim.co.uk

Regards
TotalSim.